Havering Council, Essex has been fined £75,000 after pleading guilty in a case where a six-year-old girl drowned at a pool party.

The death, at the Chafford Sports Centre in Rainham, occurred in November 2000 whilst a group of children celebrated a friend's birthday.

In levying the fine, for breaching section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and to which nearly £8,000 in costs were added, Recorder Anthony Morris, QC, said: It is remarkable that with up to 400 children a week attending pool parties a tragic accident such as this had not occurred before.

Prosecutor, Caroline Knight, said supervision at the time of the death was grossly inadequate, with only two adults and two lifeguards being present.

The Old Bailey hearing was told of a report by the Health and Safety Executive which referred to the pool as run on a haphazard and at worst chaotic basis and being run down and uncared for.

It also heard that the centre was chronically underfunded, to the extent that lifeguards were only employed on a casual basis and the centre manager had been carrying out maintenance himself.

Areas of weakness in the operation of the site were confirmed by the council's own investigation and a detailed action plan of measures to be taken to optimise safety at all the council's pools in the future was submitted to the HSE in May 2001. These have since been implemented and the results are being monitored.

The Chafford facility is currently closed and Havering executive director, Cynthia Griffin, said: It will not reopen until we know that we can deliver a first class service for our users. Pool parties at the site, referred to by prosecutor Knight as being a good source of income for a centre with a limited budget, were stopped after the tragedy.

The act to which the council pleaded guilty of breaching refers to the duty of employers to ensure as far as reasonably practicable the safety of persons not in their employment.